Set
by SET Enterprises Inc.
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Toys and Games Reviews of Set
Customer Review: Serious gymnastics for the pattern recognition part of your brain.
Summary: 5 Stars
Competitive pattern recognition - what a concept. The idea is so simple - each card has a number of elements from 1-3, of 3 different shapes, in 3 different colors, with 3 different patterns of fill. You make sets of 3 with each element either being the same, or different among all 3. For example all three might have the same number of elements but all three must have different colors and different fill patterns; the same fill pattern, but different numbers of elements and different colors - or any combination of those factors. Despite this simplicity, the number of possible variations is dizzying. See sets involves finding both similarity and difference across a range of perceptual areas: color, number, pattern, and shape. Since you are racing your opponents to find sets, the game play is fierce and cutthroat. It is simple - yet deep.
What's fascinating is how independent the skills involved are from the usual cognitive abilities other games stress. It's not about tactics, speed, or strategy. The pattern recognition bone doesn't relate to the ability to visualize in 3 dimensions. I find myself well matched with a range of people from relatively small children to experienced gamers who usually whip me in other games. Very small children and people new to the game will have a little trouble initially with the concept of what a set is. It's easy to describe but hard to really 'get'. It comes with a little bit of practice. After a couple of games everyone seems to come to fully understand it. By that time they're invariably hooked. Because it's a card game it is easily portable. Because of the pure conceptual nature of it, you can play with people who don't speak your language. It's a truly great game that cuts across all kinds of boundaries. After a couple of games you can practically feel your brain sweat. It reminds me of how rendering 3D makes my computer's CPU max out. When you are furiously playing Set, your brain is getting a serious pattern recognition workout.
Customer Review: Serious gymnastics for the pattern recognition part of your brain.
Summary: 5 Stars
Competitive pattern recognition - what a concept. The idea is so simple - each card has a number of elements from 1-3, of 3 different shapes, in 3 different colors, with 3 different patterns of fill. You make sets of 3 with each element either being the same, or different among all 3. For example all three might have the same number of elements but all three must have different colors and different fill patterns; the same fill pattern, but different numbers of elements and different colors - or any combination of those factors. Despite this simplicity, the number of possible variations is dizzying. See sets involves finding both similarity and difference across a range of perceptual areas: color, number, pattern, and shape. Since you are racing your opponents to find sets, the game play is fierce and cutthroat. It is simple - yet deep.
What's fascinating is how independent the skills involved are from the usual cognitive abilities other games stress. It's not about tactics, speed, or strategy. The pattern recognition bone doesn't relate to the ability to visualize in 3 dimensions. I find myself well matched with a range of people from relatively small children to experienced gamers who usually whip me in other games. Very small children and people new to the game will have a little trouble initially with the concept of what a set is. It's easy to describe but hard to really 'get'. It comes with a little bit of practice. After a couple of games everyone seems to come to fully understand it. By that time they're invariably hooked. Because it's a card game it is easily portable. Because of the pure conceptual nature of it, you can play with people who don't speak your language. It's a truly great game that cuts across all kinds of boundaries. After a couple of games you can practically feel your brain sweat. It reminds me of how rendering 3D makes my computer's CPU max out. When you are furiously playing Set, your brain is getting a serious pattern recognition workout.
Customer Review: Easy to learn the basics, hard to master
Summary: 5 Stars
I was introduced to Set by a math professor of mine when I was visiting my old college last year. She told me it was exactly the type of game I would like, and she was exactly right.
A deck of Set cards contains 81 cards. Each card contains a unique combination of four attributes: number, color, shading and shape (there are three of each). For example, a card can have one purple solid diamond, or three red shaded ovals, or two green empty squiggles. The players lay out 12 cards face up in a 3 x 4 rectangle and then compete to see who can take the most sets. A set is a combination of three cards wherein the attributes on the cards are either all the same or all different. For example, if we're looking at the number of objects, in order to make a set, the cards can all have one shape, two shapes, or three figures, or can have one of each. Similarly with color, they can all be red, all green, all purple, or one of each. Sounds simple, right? But remember, the three cards have to have this be true for each of the four attributes, and this is where it gets tricky. It's really easy to mess up at the beginning, but before long you'll start to recognize sets ever more easily.
I play this game so much that my primary deck, though I only bought it about a year ago, looks like it's about 50 years old. The cards are weathered and bent and faded, but in a good way. They're made of good, solid cardstock and come with a protective plastic case and rule book.
One variation on the game that I'd like to try is called Mega-Set, where you get three different decks of Set cards leave one as it is, and put some sort of distinguishing mark on the other two decks (such as stripes or spots), effectively adding a fifth attribute to the game. As my math professor said to me, "That one makes your brain hurt."
Customer Review: Lots of Fun
Summary: 5 Stars
This is quite an addictive card game. The goal of the game is to identify "Sets" of three cards out of a panel of twelve. The cards show simpe shapes (squiggle, rounded rectangle, or diamand) in groups of one, two, or three, with different color and different shading. A "Set" comprises three cards where each of these features are either all equal or are all different. After a "Set" has ben called the three cards are removed and replaced by new cards from the deck. There are 27 "Sets" in the deck, however, usually there are some left over cards at the game that cannot be combined into a set. In a typical game 24 sets can be scored. The game can also be played by a single person, for example by trying to find as many sets as possible in a given time period.
I play almost every day two or three rounds of this game with my daughter when she comes home from school. She is unbeatable and usually slaughters me in one-on-one games. I have suffered several shut-outs and consider it a great succces to win five sets to her twenty or so. We have started a handicap system to even out the game: When calling a "Set" the handicapped player starts a timer and has to wait a set amount of time (for example 5 or 10 seconds) before he or she is allowed to pick up the set. If one of the less handicapped players sees the set before the time is up they win the set. This makes the game more fun when persons of different ability or experience play together.
Customer Review: A simple concept, but it drives you to be creative.
Summary: 5 Stars
Like many great games, the concept here is simple. There are 81 cards, and they vary on 4 characteristics (shape, color, shading, and number on the card), each characteristic having three varieties. So all the combinations are 81 (3*3*3*3=81).The object of the game is to look at a group 12 cards and find three where they all share common elements, or differ completely on a characteristic. For instance, a trio could all be green, all be diamonds, and all have a different number of elements and all have different shading... But if there are 'two' of a kind, and not three, it's not a winning trio. (Two reds and a green will not work, even if all the other elements are appropriate.) If you spot a trio, you need to call out "SET" in advance of selecting it; mis-calls count against you. You can also have a set where there is nothing in common in any pair of the three cards.
The educational value of this toy is in how it trains you to see relationships and common elements - - as well as uncommon elements. Remember, three completely unique cards constitutes a set just as well as a trio with a common theme.
Because there are no 'turns,' per se, with all vying for the relationships at once, players are encouraged to think very quickly.
We love this game. I hope you try it!